A Comparative Study between the Effects of Magnetic and Nonmagnetic Dopants on the Properties of ZnO Varistors

A comparative study between effects of Mn and Al on the properties of ZnO varistor sintered at 1200∘C is investigated by XRD, SEM hardness, and I-V measurements. Although both Mn and Al do not influence the well-known peaks related to wurtzite structure of ZnO ceramics, some other unknown peaks could be formed at higher doping content (≥0.10). Also, the shape and size of grains are clearly different for both dopants. Average crystalline diameters, deduced from XRD analysis, are between 42 nm and 62 nm, which are 50 times lower than those obtained from SEM micrographs, while the oxygen vacancies deduced from EDAX analysis, are gradually decreased by doping content for both dopants. Interestingly, the values of breakdown field, nonlinear coefficient and barrier height are found to be higher in Mn samples as compared to Al samples, while the opposite is reported for leakage currents, hardness, and electrical conductivities. The values of 𝐸𝐵 are changed from 2.67 V/cm to 41.67 V/cm for Al, and from 1928 V/cm to 6571 V/cm for Mn. The conductivity of Al samples is higher than that of ZnO, and it is nearly (103–105) times the conductivity of Mn samples. These results are discussed in terms of the difference of magnetic moment and valence state between these two additives.